Knowledgeable Personnel

Even though public-key cryptography was introduced over two decades ago [DH], the widespread availability of the technology itself has come to fruition only in recent years. Due to the fact that this technology is still fairly new from an implementation and deployment perspective, the number of knowledgeable personnel in this particular field is rather limited. There is evidence that the number of PKI-knowledgeable personnel is growing, but it is also clear that these resources may be difficult to hire and to retain.

From a resource perspective, it is important to recognize that personnel requirements are not simply limited to one or two administrative personnel. Not only are PKI-knowledgeable administrators needed, but also fairly senior-level personnel are required to help develop policy-related doctrines, such as Certificate Policies and Certification Practice Statements (CPSs) (as discussed in Chapter 13, "Legal Framework") in many enterprise environments. Further, the PKI deployment strategy itself needs to be well thought out and documented appropriately. This also requires fairly knowledgeable, senior-level personnel. Of course, it is possible to outsource some or all of these positions, depending on the specific needs of the organization.